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A Special lady finds that special dog.

© Tara Smithmyer

I have had Torri since the first week of August '00. We've been actually "working" since about the end of Sept. I had/have another SD named Debbie, but she is 8 yrs old now and has some heart problems and gets 'grouchy' at times, so now she lives the life of a queen here.

I started searching for a new dog in June when Deb was diagnosed by my Vet. I contacted several 'programs' for a Seizure Dog, but the waiting list for this special dog was extremely long, in some cases 2-3 years. I knew if I waited that long I would become home bound and never leave the confines of the walls of my house again. My friends and husband encouraged me to try and train a new dog for myself; because I had some dog training experience, they felt it couldn't be that hard. I had a bad case of 'no-self confidence' and really didn't believe that I could do it, but I picked up the "ball" and set out to find a 'special' dog that could 'connect' and get that special bond going.

I had a lot of emotional guilt because of Debbie, and it was hard to open up to another dog. I looked at puppies, but I knew from experiences that you won't know until the time comes if he/she would work, so that was out. I looked at some other adult dogs that breeder friends had to offer, but none had that special ability. So one rainy day I drove up to see a friend at the local SPCA and thought to myself, duh look here silly! I weaved in and out through the rows of kennels and saw about every single dog breed known to man. Then along came the really cute mixes. As I came to the last row, I saw these soft brown loving eyes staring back at me and that was it! We played and went for a walk, and I felt this little spark between us!

I spoke to my friend about this dog. She said that she was found 'at large' running in the middle of no-where. She had been 'running' for at least a few days because her pads were worn sore and her nails were down to nothing but she was a good weight. They 'had' to keep her there 5 days to give the 'owners' time to claim her; she had been there only since that morning!